DETROIT -- While Tigers pitching prospects have garnered showers of praise among baseball’s top prospects, Jake Rogers quietly has been a guiding force from behind the plate for many of them.

Now that the Triple-A Toledo catcher, and the Tigers’ 12th-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, is getting some recognition of his own with his spot in Sunday’s All-Star Futures Game, those same pitchers are among the happiest to see him receive well-deserved attention.

“I mean, to throw to him is incredible,” Kyle Funkhouser said. “He’s one of the best, if not the best, I’ve thrown to. He handles most pitchers really well. He catches the low strike. He blocks everything. He throws guys out. It’s kind of the complete package. It’s really good to see him get recognized for that. I know the bat’s coming around. The power’s there. It’s really good for him to get honored that way.”

Other Tigers pitching prospects have said the same thing, from top pick Casey Mize to fellow Futures Game selection Matt Manning to Alex Faedo, all of whom worked with him at Double-A Erie. For others to see it is no surprise.

“It’s awesome,” Rogers said of the selection. “It’s pretty amazing, actually. I’m really excited to be there and go to Cleveland.”

While the Futures Game features plenty of hitters capable of putting on a show, few can do so from the behind the plate like Rogers. Between his strong arm and his ability to throw from angles, the 24-year-old can provide defensive highlights, which explains why he has thrown out more than half of the would-be basestealers against him this year.

The bigger honor would be for him to get behind the plate in a Tigers uniform at Comerica Park. There’s a real chance that could happen this season, too. But there’s still some work to do first.

“I’m almost in constant contact with our Minor League people on Jake Rogers, because we want him to be here. And quite frankly, we want him to be here right now,” general manager Al Avila said Friday. “But as [Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire] has told most of you guys the last couple weeks, you don’t want to bring up a guy that’s hitting .200. We already have plenty of that here. You want to get guys going while they’re hot.”

Rogers was on a hitting tear for most of the first couple months. His .302 average and .963 OPS over 28 games at Erie earned him a long-awaited promotion to Toledo. The strikeout rate slowed, the line-drive rate improved after the first few weeks, and his OPS improved vastly from his .717 rate at Erie last year.

“A big thing for me is not chasing out of the zone, not swinging at balls, staying under control, not trying to get too big, not trying to do too much,” Rogers said. “If you swing at good pitches and put the barrel on them, likely good things are going to happen.”

When he jumped to Triple-A in mid-May, the results continued, including three home runs in his first eight games and 11 RBIs over his first 10 outings. From there, pitchers adjusted, and the average dropped.

“There’s a lot of good arms in Double-A. They can command the fastball, maybe or maybe not the breaking ball or changeup,” Rogers said. “But when you get here, you get older guys that have been around, been to the big leagues, that can command all pitches in any counts. That’s the big thing. Obviously when you go up to the big leagues, it gets even better than that.”

That’s why the Tigers are taking their time. They’ve had defense-first catchers who have struggled at the plate. They believe there’s more to Rogers.

“We need him to be a complete player,” Mud Hens manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. “I’m not saying he’s not doing it. I feel like there’s more in there than he gets out.”

Mientkiewicz has been around good all-around catchers, from A.J. Pierzynski in Minnesota to Jason Varitek in Boston to Russell Martin in Los Angeles. A good team, he says, takes on the personality of its catcher. That’s why Mientkiewicz is tough on Rogers.

The more productive the catcher, the more prominent the presence.

“We’re trying to win games,” Mientkiewicz said. “A big part of the big leagues is taking what’s given to you. Sometimes when the game calls for a single, you need to cut it down. We’re trying to make him a good hitter.”

In the process, Rogers is taking on some of his manager’s personality.

“I’m just putting little pieces together and keeping going, keeping my head down and playing this game that I love and trying to help the team win a little bit,” Rogers said.

Mize returns to action

While Rogers, Manning and Isaac Paredes prepare for Sunday’s Futures Game, Tigers top prospect Mize is close to returning to game action after missing most of the month with right shoulder inflammation. The former top overall Draft pick threw three innings and 46 pitches in a simulated game on the back fields at Tigertown this week, topping out at 94 mph.

Mize is expected to join Class A Lakeland, where he began the season, for four innings next Wednesday.

“He’s making progress as planned,” Avila said. “So far, so good. No issues with him.”